|
contents | business | |||||||||
| Nuevo Necaxa-Tihuatlán motorway officially opened in Mexico  The President of the Republic of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, has officially opened the new Nuevo Necaxa-Tihuatlán motorway, constructed by FCC Construcción and ICA. It is one of the biggest infrastructure works of the current President's term of office. The motorway crosses the states of Puebla and Veracruz, forming part of the Mexico-Tuxpan corridor, the main highway axis joining the Federal District to the Gulf of Mexico.The President presented the project that promises to provide the shortest route from Mexico City to the coast and which involves the highest viaduct in Latin-America and the second highest in the world. This highway will reduce the travelling time between Mexico City and the Port of Tuxpan by two hours and thirty minutes. The total investment was calculated at 650 million USD. By increasing ease of access, it is also expected to have significant impact on tourism in Tuxpan, which is a major destination offering various attractions. "This new highway is one of the highest infrastructure works in which FCC Construcción has taken part, contributing vision, technology and innovation in order to have a positive impact on the lives of Mexican drivers and transporters. Furthermore, the San Marcos Viaduct is the highest in Latin-America and the second highest in the world", explained Eugenio del Barrio. The motorway, constructed by CONNET, a consortium made up of FCC Construcción and ICA, will be the shortest route from Mexico City to the coast, facilitating tourist access to Veracruz. It will also provide a direct connection to the Poza Rica oil area and joining the Tampico-Matamoros-Reynosa axis and the United States at its Brownsville border in Texas. Among the bridges, the San Marcos Viaduct, which crosses the river of the same name, is worthy of special mention because it has the highest pier in America and second highest in the world at 225 metres and is 850 metres long, divided into seven spans of up to 180 metres. Its foundation required six thousand cubic metres of concrete in a single stage. The main positive impact of this motorway will be the significant reduction of travelling times because users will gain some two and a half hours with respect to the current route, leading to a total time between the cities of Mexico and Tuxpan of three hours and fifteen minutes. FCC Construcción maintained continuous involvement with the nearby communities over the course of the project. For example, close to 80% of the skilled labour contracts were local people, thus providing positive support to economic and productive development of the communities close to the works. Additionally, these communities were supported in various ways through donations to education services and conversations in the neighbouring areas, including San Agustín, Plan de Ayala, Teteloloya, La Esperanza, Tepapatlaxco, San Pedro Petlacotla, Nueva Tenancingo, Tacubaya and Xicotepec de Juárez. This inauguration, to which is added the 48-kilometre long Ávila Camacho-Tihuatlán section, opened to traffic at the end of 2012 with two lanes and four junctions at the localities of Ávila Camacho, Mecapalapa, Venustiano Carranza and Tihuatlán, is inscribed within the modernisation strategy of the fourteen trunk road corridors in Mexico. write your comments about the article :: © 2014 Construction News :: home page |